Tennis: The Falmouth girls win the Class A Southern Championship

The LEWISTON Streak may be a thing of the past, but the Falmouth girls ’tennis program is still huge.

The top-seeded Falmouth swept the singles and won the third single, turning back to No. 3 Kennebunk in the 3-2 A-Class Southern Finals on Wednesday morning at Lewiston High. The victory sends Falmouth (15-0) to Saturday’s state championship match against North Champ Brunswick (14-1).

“We were really unsure if we came to it,” said Falmouth junior Marissa LeFevre, who started with second student Elise Gearan to win 6-2, 6-2 in the first singles.

Gearan said coach Larry Nichols told the team they had flown under the radar this spring and the girls should keep themselves down. Such a description would not have been conceivable in recent years, when Falmouth was currently claiming 11 state certificates as part of a winning streak that reached 187 matches.

“Our record didn’t show it,” Gearan said, “but many of us hadn’t played college tennis before.”

In fact, all of Falmouth’s Wednesday points came from girls who weren’t on the list two years ago when Scarborough finished the final series of the series. Juniors Liv McHugh and Avery Quinn set out to win 6-1, 6-1 in the second duel, and freshman Gracyn Mick gave Falmouth a 3-0 beat with a 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 3.

Nichols said that given all the limitations of COVID-19 and initially unsure if the season could even happen, getting to the state finals was simply a cake.

“The fact that we got to play was the number one thing,” he said. “We just tried to have a good season, have fun and enjoy the race again.”

Kennebunk (10-4) defeated junior Sadie Yentsch (6-3, 6-1) and second-year Andie Lamontagne in the first and second doubles. 7-5, 1-6 (10-7).

Woodbury had played a duel in that fatal match against Scarborough two years earlier and talked about how spring has been released despite maintaining the pipe in early 2008.

It was so much pressure, ”he said. “I think a lot of people who heard about The Streak thought that because we lost, we’re just as good anymore. I seem to be proving them wrong this year.

Kennebunk coach Jacqui Holmes said the Rams exceeded all his expectations by reaching the regional finals.

“They’re all brand new, and many of them are brand new to tennis,” Holmes said. “But they’ve learned a lot and they had a lot of fun. During the series shifts, they were all sad because they didn’t want the season to end.”

This story is being updated.

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